Null Controllability for Wave Equations with Memory

Abstract: We study the memory-type null controllability property for wave equations involving memory terms. The goal is not only to drive the displacement and the velocity (of the considered wave) to rest at some time-instant but also to require the memory term to vanish at the same time, ensuring that the whole process reaches the equilibrium. This memory-type null controllability problem can be reduced to the classical null controllability property for a coupled PDE-ODE system. The later is viewed as a degenerate system of wave equations, the velocity of propagation for the ODE component vanishing. This fact requires the support of the control to move to ensure the memory-type null controllability to hold, under the so-called Moving Geometric Control Condition. The control result is proved by duality by means of an observability inequality which employs measurements that are done on a moving observation open subset of the domain where the waves propagate.